A controversial Trump biopic and the villains we create

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“The Apprentice,” a new film from Ali Abbasi, chronicles the rise of the young Donald Trump under the wing of the infamous lawyer Roy Cohn. The film is in many ways an origin story of a man who has surpassed contemporary politics. In this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the film and other works that explore the psychology of Trump and Cohn, from dueling family memoirs to documentaries. The sheer number of such texts begs the question: Why are we so interested in the backstories of people who have done wrongs, and what do we stand to gain (or lose) by humanizing them? “Do we want to see our villains, our absolute villains – people who have caused a lot of harm to the world – as weak little boys who have suffered trauma and have their reasons for becoming the monsters they later turn into? Fry asks. “Or not?”

Read, watch and listen with the critics:

“The Apprentice” (2024)
“Who Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir” by Mary Trump
All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way by Fred C. Trump III
“Where is my Roy Cohn?” (2019)
“Roy Cohn and the Making of a Winner-Take All America” by Naomi Fry (The New Yorker)
“Angels in America” (2003)
“Joker” (2019)
“Wicked” (2024)
“Ratched” (2020)
“Elephant” (2003)
“Cruella” (2021)
“The Sopranos” (1991-2007)
“Mad Men” (2007-15)
The “Harry Potter” novels by JK Rowling
“Paradise Lost” by John Milton
“Be ready when luck happens” by Ina Garten

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